A project committed to giving the Madagascan people better access to electricity

In Madagascar, barely 5% of people living in rural areas have access to electricity and when they do have access, it often calls on polluting technology such as diesel generators. To respond to this situation, some twenty student members of Génie-Vert, an environmental group in the Engineering Department at the Université de Sherbrooke, spent four years working towards developing an innovative solution. Their efforts led to the design of an inexpensive and efficient wind turbine, measuring three metres in diameter and adapted to the country’s realities, called Harmattan II that will gradually revolutionize the daily lives of many Madagascans. Set up last January, the hybrid system combining a wind turbine and solar panels designed by Génie-Vert, was developed in collaboration with the Madagascan New Technology and Business Laboratory (NTBL), thus ensuring that all the necessary knowledge was transferred.